Pompey Mick

I've entered a couple of pigeons, but if I was judging, No 47 for me.

They dont seem to have much in the way of loft accessories in stock but they have a massive health & medication section.

When I worked regular Saturday mornings my wife clocked in more than I did, its a lot easier now I'm on ETS but she still likes to sit there and watch them come home. She also rings all the YBs and does a bit of cleaning out, she's my silent partner. I'd like to become a Mr/Mrs partnership, but I dont know if I can let her loose at the meetings. I come from a family of pigeon racers, sadly there's only me and Uncle George (he's 91) left now.

As Dorchester is not available you are welcome to come to Portsmouth, a similar distance but 60ml to the east of Dorchester, it is a wide open site next to the Solent with no wires in the vicinity.

I think this is a really 'useful link' for calculating just how far your training distances are (as the pigeon flies), rather than relying on road miles. http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm

This Pompey Dockyard from the Spinnaker Tower, HMS Warrior in the foreground HMS Victory behind with a couple of Carriers moored on North Railway Jetty This is Southsea Common(Portsmouth Lib Site) with the War Memorial and one of the Spithead forts in the distance. Pompey Harbour Mouth with Gosport on the other side with HMS Dolphin and the Haslar diving Tower This is Gunwharf Quays formerly HMS Vernon

If you're thinking of bulk buying try this site. Barley and Wheat £5.70 for 20kg plus plenty of mixes. http://www.ssseed.co.uk/pigeon-feeds.html

Milton Homing Society (Portsmouth) 12 sent 198 to Eastbourne with the Solent SR Fed, and 12 sent 208 birds to Upper Heyford with the Southampton & Dist NR fed

07.45, Portsmouth, not so sunny in the South today, a 100% blanket of high cloud with very little wind,no sign of any breaks just yet. Chance of a weather window later, looking at Meteox radar http://www.meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=satradar

Will we ever see the rebirth of the Club mini-sites. PigeonSportlive seems to be dead in the water, surely PSL have lost its claim to host the mini-clubs by this inactivity, any agreement entered into when Pigeonbasics was split should be re-examined due to PSL's continued dormant state. I found the mini-sites very good and would like to see them active once again, they were an integral part of Pigeonbasics and should be re-instated.

I'm racing a few Old Hens this year in the Solent Fed, the Fed are allowing Old Hens to go as trainers and the two YB Channel races are incorporating an Old Hens race. The YBs I've got I'm racing North and I'm just sending the Old Hens to the Solent Fed races. I intend to enter these hens in the NFC & BBC Old Hen races later in the year, also the Hampshire Two-Bird Championship Club is also having an Old Hens race with its YB race. Fanciers have been slow to support these races but I think next year more fanciers will become involved in Old Hen racing, it gives you competitive racing and takes the pressure away from having to race YBs to give you your weekly racing fix.

There are very strong Westerly winds forecast for Friday & Saturday along the South Coast. This is a very good weathersite http://www.myweather2.com/streamline/player.aspx?Streamline=2

I dont think the RPRA are doing away with the rings,just the dispensation to alter them. They offered both types this year, the majority of my Club members opted for the originals, several chip rings have come loose and been lost by members who use the lugged rings.

Are the Club Mini-sites ever going to be resurrected, its nearly a year now since Pigeonsport was supposed to be up and running, cant we get them back on Pigeonbasics.

The fact that you are sharing the same air space as your Budgies makes this a very serious problem. When Pigeon Fanciers deal with PFL they can seperate the Pigeons from their home life by the use of masks and removeable clothing and the fact that pigeons are externally housed. Your Budgies are pets in the same way as a dog or cat, there is no way you can continue healthily with this level of personal attachment. The only way that I can see you alleviating this problem is to have the budgies permanently housed in an internal flight against an external wall with an extractor fan venting outside so that all bloom etc is immediately vented away from your living space. The flight will need to be enclosed with perhaps plastic sheeting & curtaining which can be adjusted to suit. You could still have some contact with budgies with suitable precautions such as this device you wear around your neck. http://www.dazer.com/airogard.jsp

We are all on ETS and we starting checking the clocks 7.00pm onwards. One of the advantages of ETS you can check each clock as it comes in. On the longest race we do a 10.00pm check off with the members usually showing about 9.30pm or earlier depending on the race. As I said before ETS does give flexibility giving Club Officials to check off clocks as they arrive.

Just received the Club renewal policy from NFU Mutual, its gone up from £111 to £181 this year. Spoke to their representative who said they had been discounting the the Pigeon Club Policies for years and now they are set at a more commercial level. He maintains that he has been approached by several other Clubs about this increase and they have all accepted this new rate because it still represents the best value. Has any other Club found a new provider, or is what he is saying true.

Not got mine yet, normally get it through the post on a Thursday. I think this is down to the Royal Mail putting newspaper deliveries at the bottom of the pile. Perhaps this is yet another 'service' that will vanish.

Can you get black show pens, the white bars catch the eye too much. If you look at the cage bird show boxes the front wire is black and the inside of the box painted white to enhance the bird. I think the old type galvanized show pens are better than the modern type with the white plastic-coated bars, you can 'see' the bird better.

We have NFU cover but not for the actual building, we have insured baskets £1,686, clocks £12,672, Club Equipment £1371 plus Public Liability and our bill was £111.39 which was a reduction on 2009. It's a Business Combined Policy Their telephone no is 02476 444519 if you want to have another try.

When I started with the birds in 1963 the Solent Fed used to run 4 YB races 3X Guernsey and St Malo. Prior to that we would have at least three 'Club' races, originally with the railway and then with a local trainer who used to organise these races. The experience these YB's learned being liberated with birds from a tight proximity stood them in great stead when it came to Fed racing. There would be a lot less stress for the YBs, having endured a night in a transporter, being liberated with 'local' pigeons than being liberated with thousands of birds going to a much greater catchment area.

I've sent 8 to Bergerac with the Solent Fed 417mls, I'm also sending 4 to Perth 401mls with the Southampton NR Fed

Once again this super pigeon has flown the longest BBC race be it Palomas or Barcelona, this time at the grand age of 11. What award does it qualify for now. http://www.britishbarcelonaclub.co.uk/Diploma-of-Distinction.php http://www.britishbarcelonaclub.co.uk/documents/Earlytimesbarcelona13.pdf

Has anyone used the race result export facility on EastCoast Software. I tried it today and only succeeded in getting error messages. It would be a really useful tool as the Federation we fly with also uses EastCoast Software and would be able to import the result electronically, saving a lot of typing.

This is on the Unikon website, http://www.pigeon-ets.com/downloads/Unikon_Club_Manual.pdf